


Solitude

by CoffeeJay



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Character Study, Light Angst, One Shot, Tea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-02
Updated: 2017-04-02
Packaged: 2018-10-14 04:29:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10528971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CoffeeJay/pseuds/CoffeeJay
Summary: Things aren't how they used to be.





	

Solitude was an old friend of Japan’s.  

Sometimes he missed it.  There were too many days when the clamor of the world drowned out everything Japan knew himself to be, too many nights when he would rather have been in the quiet of his own home, blocking out the noise with a blanket and the dark.  He would wake up the next day, just as he always had, and make himself a cup of tea.  

There were other days when he had to share his tea with a visitor.  Perhaps Netherlands had come by to discuss trade, or South Korea to chat with him, or Russia to threaten him.  Japan preferred when these days were few and far between, but as time rolled onward, Japan found that hardly a day could go by anymore when he could simply enjoy the quiet of his own company.  The chatter of people he had come to know as friends filled his hours, keeping him from his thoughts and bringing him their own.  They brought him frustration and reassurance, happiness and betrayal.  They brought him sound.  It was not unusual, these days, to find Japan in his home, laughing with one or two of his few, precious friends over a cup of tea.  

Their drinks and the conversation would eventually run dry, of course, and his company would leave, taking with them the noise that filled his house.  Finally, he could be alone again.  He reveled in it.

He resented it.  

On the increasingly rare occasions that Japan found himself alone, he began to notice that the solitude he had known all his life felt different.  Where before it had been a comforting embrace, now it felt more like the hand of a ghost clutching at his clothes.  The silence of his home felt more empty than endearing some nights, when his thoughts refused to lie still and the fear of everything he had gained, of everything he had to lose--the fear of what he had become, was still becoming--filled his mind with static.

Deep inside his heart, he knew that it wasn’t the solitude that had changed, but himself.  

On sleepless nights when his lonesome house refused to let him sleep, Japan abandoned his bed and made tea to share with his oldest friend.


End file.
